In appearance, attitude, and social interaction, Gretta seems like an everyday teenager.
The 15-year-old freshman at Our Lady of Mercy High School outside Rochester is an honor roll student. She’s on the cheer team, loves downhill skiing, and enjoys listening to music with family and friends. She has a radiant smile and an infectious personality—the kind that attracts those looking for an energy that can turn around the darkest days.
But behind the sunny disposition of Gretta’s seemingly easy-going life is a daily challenge, one she’s managed since finding her way through kindergarten. At five years old, she was diagnosed with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA), a chronic autoimmune condition that saddles children with fatigue, persistent joint pain, and potential long-term damage that can impact her eyesight. There is no cure for this condition, but with treatment, medication, and ongoing support, affected children can lead a fulfilling life.
However, finding this normal requires finding those who understand the condition—and how someone like Gretta has to juggle her struggles amid the typical happenings of a Gen Alpha teen.
“It’s hard every day,” says Gretta. “No one can truly understand.”
This disconnect between managing her condition and enjoying her day-to-day life as a kid made finding a place where people did understand Gretta a priority for her parents, Erin and James. Thanks to their friends inside the Rheumatology Department at Rochester’s Golisano Children’s Hospital, they were directed to Double H Ranch’s summer camp, nestled in New York’s Adirondacks and established as an oasis for chronically ill children.
“Kids come from all over,” says Erin, recounting the conversation she had with a Golisano nurse practitioner about campers throughout New York, the Northeast, and other points across North America. “They have horseback riding and things to climb in the woods; there are animals and so many friends to make. It sounded like a typical sleepaway camp, and as she described it, Gretta thought it sounded great.”
So with significant trepidation—but hope for a supportive experience—Erin and Jim put their eight-year-old daughter on a four-hour bus ride to Double H Ranch. A week later, that same daughter returned home with a beaming smile on her face.
She had found her happy place.
“When she walked off that bus, she was the happiest I’ve ever seen her,” says Erin. “She didn’t want to leave, and all the girls [on the bus] started crying because they didn’t want it to be over. They were happy tears, but they were still falling.”
For Gretta, the connection to the camp was simple. She felt seen for the first time. The counselors understood. The campers understood. It was a community of support, and when you were at the camp, your condition drifted away, if only for a week.
“I just fell in love with it,” says Gretta. “It’s never about that you’re at camp because you’re sick. It’s about having fun and meeting new people. Your situation is just kind of irrelevant, and the camp makes you forget everything.”
“Every year, I go to this camp and I find my sense of belonging. I’ve found a community of friends within it. I’ve learned how not to be afraid, and to be myself, too,” says Gretta. “For developing kids, they need someone who understands. They need to not feel alone, and that’s what [Double H] provides. Camp is like a friend.”
One reason the summer camp can help campers forget about everything: its on-site medical staff is ready for anything. With Double H nurses and practitioners available 24 hours a day, experienced in managing and treating the specific conditions of all campers, and dedicated to supporting their well-being every moment of camp, attendees can laugh, relax, and play without fear. Meanwhile, parents like Erin gain peace of mind that their child is in highly capable hands.
“We’re always thinking about the effect these camps have on the kids, but they also have a tremendous impact on the parents,” says Erin. “To allow all of us to exhale for a couple of days is absolutely amazing.”
In addition to its medical staff, Paul’s Body Shop is a camp facility that allows campers to receive needed treatment on site, with medical services like factor infusions, respiratory treatments, IV fluids, and administering of an extensive list of medications available just steps away from their daily activities. This type of support is rare, making Double H a medically equipped oasis, a place where kids can be kids and parents can gain a semblance of calm and confidence in the assurance of their care.
To campers like Gretta, it’s more than a safe and comforting place she’s referred to as “better than Disney World” (which she attended in 2022). The camp has become who she is—and who she wants to be.
This summer, she’ll return to the Adirondacks for her eighth session. She’s looking forward to the bus ride and the swimming and fishing and hanging with her camp friends, the ones she now stays in contact with all year long. She’d also like to become a counselor, so she’s excited to learn more about that role and, one day, help campers just like her.
On the last night of camp, she’ll head to the nearby water’s edge and engage in the Wish Boat ceremony, a favorite session ceremony that allows her and fellow campers to reflect on another invigorating time and cast an ask for something special in the coming calendar year. What Gretta asks for this year is unknown, a decision yet to be made.
In her cherished summer camp, she’s found a wish-come-true—and one that’s shaped her into the joy-filled teenager she is today.
“I couldn’t imagine what my life would be like if I never went,” she says. “It’s such a special place, and it’s something that has really changed my life so, so much.”
To learn more about Double H’s summer camps and schedule, click here. To donate to keep kids unstoppable this summer, click here.